Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., lambasted the Financial Choice Act Friday, stating that the bill to undo Dodd-Frank is not only "wrong" but "immoral" as it would allow big banks, financial advisors and payday lenders "to go back to cheating people."
In testimony before Democratic members of the House Financial Services Committee, who called for the hearing, Warren said: "Let me be blunt, [the act is a] 586-page insult to working families."
The Financial Choice Act, which would also dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which she helped to set up, is "the wrong choice," Warren stated. "It is immoral" and "about throwing people under the bus so that lobbyists can do the bidding of Wall Street."
Added Warren: "We built the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the rest of Dodd-Frank so families wouldn't get cheated."
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the committee, said during her opening remarks that the Choice Act is an "expansively bad bill."
Waters was among the chorus of democratic lawmakers who implored House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling on Wednesday to hold another hearing on the Choice Act before it is marked up on Tuesday.
Waters stated at the Friday morning hearing that "the majority held a hearing during which their witnesses shared so many 'alternative facts' that I was sure they must be living in an alternative reality."
Democrats, she said, "are going to set the record straight. We've asked for this second hearing to hear from experts and well-informed witnesses who know, understand and appreciate the importance of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and who can point out the dangers of the Wrong Choice Act."
